Aramco: How COVID-19 has brought new digital jobs one step closer
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Out of a crisis comes opportunity, say the great thinkers, and we are seeing signs of this in our efforts to roll out an ambitious digital transformation program across Aramco.
We had a target of training 5,000 of our employees in 2020 to improve their awareness of digital processes and applications. Instead, we reached more than double that, with 11,000 people attending courses. Perhaps inspired by their ability to cope with the disruption of switching to remote working, or heartened by their encounters with virtual meetings and other digital services, it seems our employees have opened up to the opportunities that new technologies can bring. Interest levels, training take-up and enthusiasm have all increased.
“Our employees have opened up to the opportunities that new technologies can bring.”
In addition, we have received more than 750 requests to use technology — what we call business use cases — from across the organization, from departments that can see the potential for leveraging real-time data, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) in their business. New jobs are emerging with names that we are creating — from Big Data Specialists to Human-Machine Interaction Designers — and they represent an exciting evolution as we aim to become the world’s leading digital energy company.
Identifying the business opportunities
While digital technology has been used in Aramco’s operations for many years in the form of underwater robots, drones, smart plants and so much more, our digital transformation program that we started in 2017 — using Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies — is scaling up this practice across the whole company. At the heart of it is the Digital Transformation Office, which works closely with Engineering Services and Information Technology organizations to drive digital opportunities and initiatives, with the aim of enabling the entire business. Here are the data engineers, scientists and analysts who form the core of the new digital workforce — the modern equivalent of electrical engineers — deploying processes such as automation, digital security and digital twins that can create value and improve operational performance.
What’s key is to start the use of these capabilities and convert them into business opportunities — hence the need for applicable business challenges and ideas from across the company. This way, even more new roles will emerge. The legal team could use a Data Detective, for example, who can deploy AI to run through cases and establish commonality, reducing the amount of repetitive work. They might also leverage an Algorithm Bias Auditor to check data integrity and the algorithms running it. Meanwhile, areas such as human resources that field a number of frequently asked questions and requests are experimenting with robotic process automation and chatbots, which will need Digital Supervisors working alongside them to monitor their responses. And our contracting department could soon have a Blockchain Specialist to help streamline the process and eliminate hold-ups in writing and reviewing contracts.
“What’s key is to start the use of these capabilities and convert them into business opportunities.”
Key among all these roles is what we have started calling the Citizen Developer. These are the people who can bridge the gap between business and technology. They most likely have a preliminary background in computing or analytics, but they also need full knowledge of the business to identify a business problem, think of a way to resolve it, and maybe even write a simple code to do so.
Developing the talent
Of course, all of this requires a proper set of skills. We need the best talent available and we will be competing with leading organizations to get it, as well as developing our own young talent. We currently sponsor more than 60 young people to attend the world’s top-ranked universities to study these Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies.
But we also believe in upskilling our existing workforce, which brings us back to training. We have 300 digital training programs in place — ranging from one-hour tutorials to one-year master’s courses addressing our needs for digital specialists. We provide the environment for anyone who wants to grow, with the added advantage that we have a young workforce who are adaptive to change and can learn very quickly. These eager, passionate young workers have even coined the term “worktainment,” as these new roles can feel like entertainment for them.
“We provide the environment for anyone who wants to grow.”
Such is the picture of the digital workforce of the future — and it is a future that is feeling ever closer. During the worst global pandemic for a century, it was digital technology that made it possible for us to continue operations as seamlessly as we have. Living through that experience may also have helped people to feel confident about embracing the technology that will transform our way ahead.
• Abdullah Al-Baiz is chief digital officer at Aramco.
